Whether large or small, keeping a happy, positive and productive company culture is important not only for employee retention but also for work quality.
Many innovative companies are looking for ways to boost employee morale and personal focus in the office. One of the latest trends running around is setting up an office aquarium.
In this article, we are going to look at the many benefits to introducing a fish tank into the office, and show you how to set one up the right way!
Benefits To Setting Up an Office Aquarium
So, what exactly are the benefits to setting up a fish tank? Well, theirs three huge benefits to a fish tank setup in the office, those are:
- Fish Tanks Impact Company Culture;
- Fish Tanks Reduce Stress & Anxiety;
- Fish Tanks Add Personality.
Fish Tanks Impact Company Culture
For success in business, a positive and productive culture is important. When creating one, the little things are what matter the most and have the largest impact on how your employees feel when working.
Belonging to a beautiful nature-like environment improves our mood, making us feel “down to earth”. That’s one reason why offices have plants.
Adding an aquarium is one example of the little things that’ll make an office feel more “earthy”. Overall observing fish together in harmony will allow teams to work together and solve common goals and problems. Plus, who doesn’t love looking at beautiful fish while responding to emails.
Fish Tanks Reduce Stress & Anxiety
One HUGE benefit to fish tanks is they have a calming effect on the environment around them. Once a tank is decorated and set up, watching fish swim gracefully can improve your overall mood and reduce stress and anxiety.
How?
Well, a study by the National Marine Aquarium showed that watching or observing an aquatic ecosystem can reduce blood pressure and emotional agitation, leading you to feel calmer, happier, and more productive!
Whether the tank is stalked up with freshwater fish or saltwater fish, your employees will reap the reward of mental clarity, which will allow them to feel healthier in the office.
Fish Tanks Add Personality
The third and final benefit to aquariums is that they’ll add some spice to the office.
We’ve all been in a place that seems dull or boring. Offices tend to have this problem more often than not. Having a creative, unique, and visually appealing place to get work done is CRUCIAL for high quality work.
Fish tanks are a perfect way to decorate the office with these features. Consider them as one of a kind, unique, decorations that will allow your employees to feel more open and freer to get work done.
How To Setup A Fish Tank (The Right Way!)
Now that we’ve seen the benefits to introducing a tank to the office, let’s set one up! There are five things we’ll need to do to set one up correctly, those are:
- Buy Equipment;
- Clean The Tank;
- Add Water, Decorations, and Equipment;
- Cycle The Tank;
- Add Fish.
Buy Equipment
Before you can set up a fish tank, you’ll need to buy one.
When choosing one, decide on what size tank you’ll need. You can do this by asking these 3 questions:
- How many fish do I want to keep?
- Do I want to keep larger fish?
- Do I plan on decorating a lot?
Consider your answer to those questions. If you want to keep one or two fish here and there, you may want to buy a smaller tank. On the other hand, if you want to keep a lot of fish, or decorate a lot, then you may need to buy a bigger tank.
Once you have an idea of what type of tank you want, purchase it and we can go into cleaning it.
Clean The Tank
Once you bought all the equipment, you’ll need to wash all of the dust out. Knowing how to clean a fish tank the right way is IMPORTANT!
To do this, wash out all of the decorations, tank, and equipment with tap water until no dust remains.
Once you’ve washed everything, you’re ready to start filling the tank with water and add the decorations and equipment.
Add Water, Decorations, and Equipment
For this step, you’ll want to add the decorations before adding water. Place them where you want and then fill your tank with water.
After you’ve added the decorations and filled the tank with water, add all the equipment such as the filter, heater, and lighting system to the tank.
Cycle The Tank
By now, we’ve cleaned, filled, and decorated the aquarium and you may think it’s time to add the fish. However, there’s one more thing we need to do: CYCLE THE TANK!
Cycling allows your tank to process your fish’s waste by building bacteria inside the tank to eat the waste, which will keep the water clean and healthy.
So before adding fish, you’ll need to cycle the fish tank. To do this, you’ll need to add some fish flakes into the water then test for ammonia and nitrites with an aquarium test kit.
Once you cannot detect both ammonia and nitrites, you’ve successfully cycled your tank.
Add Fish
You’ve successfully set up and cycled your fish tank, now it’s time to add some fish.
Before adding any critters to the aquarium, know how many fish per gallon your tank can hold. The reason you need to find this number is because you can run the risk of overstocking the aquarium. This can be a bad thing as too many fish can contaminate the water inside the aquarium.
A good rule to follow is no more than 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. Also, don’t add more than 2 fish per week or else they’ll start fighting over territory.
Summary
Congrats! You now know how to successfully set up a fish tank.
From reducing stress & anxiety to creating a happier and more positive culture for your business, fish tanks in the office offer numerous benefits.
So, if you’re looking for a hack to boost productivity in your business, consider adding a fish tank!
Meet The Author
Hi there, my name is Gunnar Kennedy! I’m a fishkeeping enthusiast and owner of smartfishkeeper.com. I love sharing new ideas and helping others care for their aquatic friends! I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something new!
